PGE Park deal could be filed Thursday

A deal for Major League Soccer at PGE Park could be struck as soon as Thursday afternoon, according to Commissioner Amanda Fritz.

Fritz met with Ken Rust, chief administrative officer of the Office of Management & Finance, this afternoon to get an update on the proposal. The commissioner had expressed concern that city council had awarded Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson permission to begin construction on improvements to PGE Park to prepare the stadium for major league soccer without a development agreement being signed.

Though Fritz says she has confidence in Rust’s judgment, she wants to see the details of the MLS deal before she gives her approval. One issue that concerns Fritz is a zoning code change for a proposed sports medicine clinic at PGE Park.

“This proposed clinic is why they wanted a zoning change, but it doesn’t say that in the agreement,” Fritz said. “Why would we change the zoning language when we don’t know what is going in there yet?”

Fritz did say that some of her concerns regarding labor agreements and protection of the tax payers were alleviated after her meeting with Rust.

The development agreement will be up on the city auditor’s website at 4 p.m. on Friday but is scheduled to be filed Thursday afternoon.